January 2007 Archives

Now that we've got a proper winter going on here, I thought I'd share with you what it looks like out our back door. Any further and I'd actually have to go outside, which takes way too much preparation at the moment. It is currently a cheery 21F/-6C degrees outside. The wire fence and posts you see is my parents' vegetable garden.

Our shipment did arrive yesterday. The poor shipment delivery guy was from Tel Aviv - traveling in horrid driving conditions (much of the snow in the photo fell yesterday) and on one of the coldest days this winter. I think it was down to 18F/-9C.

You know the whole "eating for two" thing during pregnancy? Well, I understand it's not true, that a woman needs to make sure she's eating well, avoiding empty calories, etc., etc.

However, I am getting tired of eating. Seriously. I am hungry all the time. Ask my family. Going more than 30 minutes without eating can be a challenge for me. I'm not eating tons of food (large quantities increase the risk of heartburn), but I also almost never feel full. Not "oh-my-gosh-I-overate" full, just "I'm-not-hungry-because-I-just-ate" full. There are mornings that it takes me a while to get around to brushing my teeth because about the time I think to brush them, I'm hungry again.

Not gonna' kill me, but I didn't expect it to happen, either!

Our shipment from Israel is due to arrive in about an hour.

It's a good thing we've been cleaning out the house, but I still don't know how we're going to fit it in this house. As my mother told the crew from Discovery Channel - the house, the whole house, is 20 by 40 (that's feet). At least it's mostly small items, such as books, blankets, and artwork - no furniture.

30 January. Update: After a day of trying to track down our shipment, it has been revealed that the truck broke down yesterday. We don't know where, but not here that's for sure. I'm a bit irritated that we had to track them down and not vice versa; however, I have to think back to Israel - my point of view if this had happened there, well, probably would have been a ... shall we say, "different". Too bad. I was beginning to have visions of supporting ourselves off the money from the shipping company after their employee ran off with our valuables.

First, we'll start with the up close shot:

And then to this funky shot that to me looks like my child is sticking it's butt out at the camera:

And conclude with me fully dressed:

Before I got pregnant, I couldn't fathom those pregnant women who worried about weight gain, how they looked pregnant, etc. I would look at a pregnant woman and be awed by her beauty and the process.

My mother has a saying, "you're comparing your insides with my outsides" - you know, judging a book by its cover. For example, come visit us. Check out my mother. You'll walk away thinking, "she has cancer? but she's so healthy!"

Well, now I'm pregnant. Being on the inside of what I used to judge from the outside, I've gained a bit of perspective. Yes, being pregnant is an awe-inspiring process. However, there are definitely trials to having your (YOUR) body expand in ways previously unthinkable. And you can't know everything that is going to happen in advance for two reasons: 1) there's simply too much that happens to know it all and 2) every woman is different and so is her experience - each time she's pregnant. Not all of it is comfortable. I've never had to exercise so regularly simply to be able to make it through the day without too much achiness.

Last night, Mark said, as he often does, "I love you" and I caught myself thinking, as I walked into the kitchen, "even the waddling version?" I guess that's when my previous outsider thinking made the connection with my current insider thinking.

It's one of those days. Just out of sorts. I guess the feeling has sort of been gnawing at me for a while. I'm not used to instability in my life. Now my life is nothing but.

I just finished a novel that, at the end, turned out to be about betrayal and deception. I think it's sort of highlighted my upside-down feeling.

On the upside, we did find out Mark could be eligible for up to $39,000 in federal loans each year for med school. Don't add that up. It'll make you sick, but it does make the idea of living and med school a little easier to wrap my head around.

For those of you fearing we might leave the US again, think of it this way: it means we'll be in the US for at least the next two decades. One for med school, the next (at least) for paying it off.