Current Adventures

In reality, life hasn't been particularly "adventurous" of late, out of necessity, but we had a busy and joyful summer and a great start to the beginning of the new school year.

Playing: On the new playground at Angel's school. His school built two new playgrounds over the summer break, which are now probably about the coolest playgrounds on our island, so Angel has been picking up Cyrus and my sisters after work a couple days a week and turning right back around to go back to campus and play.

Wearing: Well, getting Cyrus dressed up fancy for church on Sunday is still my favorite thing. It's still just about the only time he wears pants and long-sleeved shirts because most of the time he's not in air-conditioning and it's just way too hot to be dressed like that anywhere else (except the hospital, which is really chilly). As for me, my wardrobe is gradually shrinking and every day is a science experiment in "Can I still wear this?"

Planning: Fun stuff for the new school year. Angel's testing out different ideas as far as building the Spanish program--hopefully we'll be doing a Spanish movie night with homecooked Mexican food in a couple weeks, and possibly starting a Spanish Club after-school for more chances to converse and do the fun stuff that there's not always time for in class. We'll see! New years always bring new possibilities.

Wondering: At how quickly Cyrus has realized that Mom and Dad play VERY differently. With Angel, he's all about wrestling, playing "Kick the Duck" (a game invented by Cyrus, and we're pretty sure we don't totally understand all the rules, but generally involves Angel kicking a rubber duck around the house while Cyrus chases him and tries to get it. Once he gets the duck, he places it under a stool in the corner of the room and expects Angel to kick it out from under the stool and repeat the process. Times infinity), and doing all kinds of 'tricks' in the swimming pool. With me, he reads stories, plays with his puzzles, helps me clean and put away laundry, plays with play-doh in his high chair, coloring, stickers, etc. He'll ask Angel to carry him while walking but he doesn't ask me anymore because he knows I don't carry him (and this breaks my heart a little that he realizes this--someday, baby! Someday I will be able to pick you up again!)

Cheering for: My little sister, who just had her own booth at her 3rd arts + crafts show, selling original watercolor painted cards, notebooks, bookmarks, etc. My only contribution to the process was laminating and cutting out bookmarks and repeatedly saying "But it's not perfectly centered/horizontal!" whenever she would show me her penciled designs. But I'm so terribly proud of her as she continues to practice and grow in her skills and is now beginning the process of applying to colleges--she'll be moving away for school next year, with plans to study a major within the realm of art, hoping for a career centering around illustration or a related field. She's on instagram @mgsillustrates if you'd like to follow her art journey!

Running: Well, I'm not running anywhere. I am walking slowly and carefully and avoiding slippery surfaces and too much bumping (I very nearly took a bad spill on a tile staircase last week due to missing a step--that was a scare!). Angel has run two races in August and placed 5th in his 10k and 4th in a 7k, adding to the trophy and medal collection. He has now moved all of his trophies to his desk at work, which is a win-win situation, as it clears off my bookshelf and also helps give him a little more street cred as the track coach. I mean, you'll be more likely to listen to your coach if they have a dozen running trophies, right? I don't know what to do about the medal situation, though. Any runners have cool ideas? Currently, they are all collected in a ziploc bag. That's all.

What adventures have you had, lately?

Baby Update: 27 Weeks

Weight Gain: +12 pounds

Symptoms: Still generally feel like this pregnancy has hit me harder--could be a combination of the fact that this time I'm doing pregnancy with a very small boy to take care of, but also I think the greater physical restrictions have taken their toll over time, and I'm just generally feeling not as great. Haven't been vomiting since about 18-19 weeks, but still having some nausea in the mornings and if I get too hot.

I've never yet had anything like heartburn or swelling in pregnancy--hopefully I make it to the end of this pregnancy without experiencing either, as well!

I did have middle-of-the-night charlie horses a couple times when I was pregnant with Cyrus and one night recently I woke up with what felt like it was about to turn into a charlie horse and immediately (in a very panicked fashion) began stretching and massaging my leg, and it didn't turn into a full-blown charlie horse. Man, I remember waking up to those--that was so crazy.

I've also never had a glucose test yet. Interesting what tests you can 'escape' from depending on where you live...

Eating: Green apples are life, still. Cyrus has also discovered a love for green apples and now I have to get them out two at a time or else risk sharing my whole apple with him (and I don't like to share my apples). Watermelon is also good, anything cold and fresh. I don't have much appetite for meat but have been occasionally craving random and highly inconvenient things to crave, such as potato casserole. Just about any variety of potato casserole. Eggs + potatoes, cheesy potatoes, etc. But I don't have an oven, and I haven't yet gotten desperate enough to buy a giant bag of potatoes and spend forever peeling and dicing them and taking them to my mom's house to be baked in her oven.

I did, however, make shredded hashbrowns from scratch and they turned out delicious and wonderful and helped a bit with the potato desire. I also think about Subway-style sandwiches a lot. I love a cold roast beef sandwich or turkey sandwich but I'm determined to avoid lunchmeat so it will have to wait.

I suck on ice cubes throughout the day, still the best nausea-reducer and general "make me feel better" magic solution that I've found.

Gender: Baby is a boy, and we announced his name to our family once we found out (after confirming/deciding finally on the way home from the ultrasound at 21+ weeks)

Emotions: This boy does not move a whole lot...at least by comparison to what I remember of Cyrus. Granted, I probably only really remember the end of pregnancy sorts of movements, but this time it feels like hours and hours will pass without feeling any movements and I keep telling him to move--with the slight separation of the placenta, I just like having those movements regularly to let me know he's fine in there. I've asked the doctor and she just says that it's still early, he's still not that big, and the placenta's in front so that cushions the movements. He's also still head-up, so maybe the different position affects how much movement I feel. So, also hoping he decides to start hanging out upside-down in the not-to-distant future.

Preparations: My aunts sent a few new outfits for baby boy, and this past week Angel picked up a hand-me-down crib from a coworker which we'll be setting up in our room for the new baby...after deciding that I'm not at all eager to rush Cyrus out of his crib and into a real bed before baby gets here. This crib is smaller, more like an in-between size between bassinet and full-sized crib, so I'm imagining keeping baby brother in our room for about six months or so in that crib until switching him to Cyrus's bigger crib and Cyrus to a bed. Cyrus was in our room for about 8 months, we'll just have to wait and see how sleeping routines go this time around. My general idea is in October to pick a "baby prep day" to get Cyrus's baby clothes out and sort them and wash them and figure out what we have and what I'll still need to get (i.e. new paci, bottle...). I don't want to start getting ready too early because in this climate if you wash clothes too early you'll just have to wash them again.

Almost to the third trimester!