June 2011
10 posts
the name game
As I previously wrote, I’m at the beach with my family. Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister-in-Law, niece, nephew, Uncle, Aunt, Cousin, Cousin-in-Law, second cousin, second cousin, second cousin…
the topic of conversation? Bables’ name.
With my mom and aunt in the same room, there’s a lot of unsolicited opinions rolling around. I suggested my cousin Brooke’s third...
May 2011
20 posts
1 tag
30 weeks
Here it is…The Final Countdown.
10 weeks ‘til Bables.
(please hold while I freak out for a moment)
I am feeling a real sense of transition. Currently, I’m enjoying a beach week with my family, where I’m surrounded by love, children, sun, and sand. I couldn’t imagine a more ideal way to move from the flurry of the last two weeks of school into the next few...
sugar, sugar
I got up this morning and headed to the doctor’s office. They took my blood and then as a trade, I guess, I got to drink an ice-cold bottle of fruit punch flavored glucose.
Every mother I know talks about how “gross” and “super sweet” and “nasty” this experience is, so I wasn’t looking forward to it. For some reason, I had it in my mind that it...
1 tag
natural Bables
A couple of things I’m liking for Bables these days:
click the pictures for the links!
a sheepskin baby rug:
From what I’ve read, babies really like these, and there are benefits to them as well because wool is natural and great to use in the hot or cold. Plus, it just looks so snuggly, doesn’t it?
wooden teething necklace:
Our sister-in-law Ashley used to bemoan not...
A Mr. Holland's Opus Moment
Oprah is having her deluxe Mr. Holland’s Opus moment today.
That’s what I call those rarest of rare times when a person gets the supreme gift of seeing that they Matter in the world. That what they did made a difference to people. It’s typically saved for fiction, film, and the famous.
(click for the scene below)
You know, like when Ethan Hawke turns around as Robin...
welcome to the world, Baby Baker!
Our friends David and Sarah Baker welcomed their daughter to the world yesterday morning: little Ingrid is just beautiful, and I’m already arranging her marriage to Bables.
I can do that, too, because David introduced Mr. Ables and I. We have to continue the tradition! Too bad for us this little family is all the way in Prague…
28 weeks
It’s here.
The Third Trimester.
Which means, at the end of these 2 months and two weeks (or so), there’ll be a Bables. I’m gonna be birthin’ a baby!
Let’s let that sink in for a moment, shall we?
……………………………..
I am feeling tired. Not from baby stuff, but from the weariness that comes with...
things said to a pregnant woman: a series
“Read this to yo’ baby. He listen to you.”
— an older man handing me a Bible tract to read two months ago. This was the first time a stranger acknowledged that I was pregnant. I looked at the pamphlet. It gave evidence from the Bible that the world was ending May 21st. I thought, ‘Too bad my baby isn’t due until August 8th.’
I didn’t read it...
Mr. and Mrs. Smith...meet Mr. and Mrs. Ables
What do this:
and this:
have in common with our Sunday morning?
We decided Sunday morning was going to be beach time at Sullivan’s Island. Yes, we skipped church. No, that’s not why the police car is pictured above. Sure, I live in the South, but even the Bible Belt isn’t quite that strict.
As Mr. Ables and I enjoyed the warm almost-summer sun, I read while he graded...
things said to a pregnant woman: a series
“Well….aren’t you looking rather (searches for the right word)…GIANT today?”
—woman on the sidewalk as I started out on my planning-period morning walk.
Friends, I can’t make stuff like this up. I can’t.
the announcement
Today was the day.
I told my students that this was my last full week of teaching, not just for the summer, but for a long time. Something that has been a large part of my identity for five years is quickly coming to a close. As I told them, I was also telling myself as well: goodbye to lesson plans and class changes and writing prompts and all of my students.
I’ll miss it. I...
first Bables shower
The sweet people I work with threw me a baby shower two weeks ago. I didn’t know what to expect—because I’ve only been to one baby shower in my entire life, and now here I was: the center of attention!
But it was wonderful. I’m beyond blessed to work with some amazing people, and they spoiled my little Bables boy. It’s been a gratifying experience to work...
things said to a pregnant woman: a series
“You have toxemia. I saw your feet earlier today and I’ve been thinking about them all day. It’s very dangerous. You have it. I did, so I know.”
—a coworker at my school baby shower.
note: I do not have toxemia. I just have fat feet. And a lot of people taking care of me!
feats of feets
Just in case you thought this was a style blog (I know you are confused, right?)…here are my top two dream shoe wear choices du jour:
AND:
‘Tis the state of my feet these days. This is the shoe wear they cry out for—I hope I don’t try to order a scrunchie and a pair of gray sweatpants next. I really do try harder than these shoe choices might lead you to believe. I...
1 tag
26 weeks
On Monday, I’ll be 27 weeks. Oh, well. Let’s just chalk my slack posting up to “pregnancy brain,” a phenomenon I did not believe in until I lost my keys, a necklace, and shoes in a two hour span only to find it all that afternoon and then lock myself out of the house two days in a row. (all, sadly, very true. ask poor Mr. Ables.)
I’m now a believer. Though...
1 tag
tunes
Tiny Bables,
You and I are jamming to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 right now. My students keep asking me if I’m playing you music, and I am—just not making choices for you consciously. You’ve just had to listen to whatever I’ve felt like listening to (dinner-cooking music was Josh Ritter’s Animal Years record). Hope you’ve liked it. Your papa bear...
his perspective
These days, I complain/whine/moan/cry about:
my swelling
my mood swings
my ever-growing waistline
my puff-a-lump feet
my tiredness
the day Bables actually has to come out of me that way
…usually in this particular phrasing to Mr. Ables: “Why is it that you don’t have to suffer with this pregnancy?! You don’t have to worry about _______________like I do.”
And...
